Editorial | Enough is enough in campaign cash

Sometimes it's just never enough - at least when it comes to the Republican Party and unending streams of cash its members already rake in though political contributions.

Flush from a 2010 victory in the Citizens United case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court gave corporations and unions the right to spend unlimited amounts on ads or political activity, the Republican National Committee has joined a wealthy Alabama businessman seeking to lift limits on the total amount an individual may contribute to candidates.

In a closely watched case to come before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, McCutcheon v. the Federal Election Commission, the Justices will hear from lawyers for the RNC and Shaun McCutcheon, the Alabama heavy machinery manufacturer who wants to give more money to conservative causes.

Mr. McCutcheon has found a soulmate in Kentucky's Republican senior Sen. Mitch McConnell, a longtime foe of campaign finance restrictions.

Mr. McConnell has filed a brief in support of the McCutcheon case. His lawyers will get time to participate in Tuesday's arguments, according to the Campaign Legal Center, a non-partisan public interest group which argues Sen. McConnell's lawyers are seeking an even more extreme expansion of campaign giving than sought in the McCutcheon case.

Mr. McCutcheon does not challenge the federal cap of $2,600 he may give to a single candidate in a primary and general election cycle but wants to eliminate the $123,000 overall limit on donations - $48,600 to candidates and $74,600 to political parties and committees.

If he succeeds, he told the Times, "I'm going to give more money."

If Mr. McCutcheon and his new friends get their way, the result would be a super-flow of funds from the super-rich to select candidates. This comes in a climate where political activity by so-called Super PACS already is awash in cash, thanks to Citizens United, a decision which Mr. McConnell also strongly supported during a long career of fighting campaign finance regulation.

Mr. McConnell, 71, who is seeking a sixth U.S. Senate term, has already accumulated an extraordinary amount of campaign cash - $17.3 million - most of of it from outside Kentucky and much of it from special interest groups eager to win favor with one of Washington's most powerful Republicans, The Courier-Journal's Tom Loftus reported Sunday.

A favorable Supreme Court decision would greatly benefit Mr. McConnell but do little to help the influence of his Kentucky constituents, who account for only about 11 percent of his donations.

Opponents of the McCutcheon case include Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, which supports stricter campaign finance laws.

The Citizen's United decision already has created a "wild west" of campaign donations to Super PACs, he recently told USA Today. Even worse, a favorable ruling in McCutcheon could open the door to eliminating all limits on campaign donations, allowing lawmakers to peddle influence for ever-increasing contributions.

Mr. Wertheimer aptly summed up why the Supreme Court should reject this challenge in an opinion piece in Politico. It "would take us back to the Robber Baron era of the 19th century when members of Congress were functionally owned and controlled by wealthy interests. And that would be an unmitigated disaster for America."

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

Editorial | Enough is enough in campaign cash

Sometimes it's just never enough ? at least when it comes to the Republican Party and unending streams of cash its members already rake in though political contributions.